Don't let them know you see them
by Batbae
Summary: Bruce adopted the orphaned Dick Grayson because he saw himself in the boy. Alfred told him it was a bad idea, not because he detested the boy, but because he didn't believe he could handle the things that lurked in the manor at night.
1. Chapter 1

"Thanks Mr Wayne. I heard you paid for all this" muttered Dick Grayson, indicating his parent's caskets with a lazy hand gesture.

Bruce saw something in Dick, had seen it in him since the night his parents fell to their deaths; a thirst for vengeance, for justice against the man responsible for their demise. "Think nothing of it" was his reply, but Dick didn't seem to hear him anyway.

The Wayne family butler stood next the empty back row of seats with a mourning look on his face, but it wasn't from the funeral.

"I'm going to offer it to him" whispered Bruce so only Alfred could hear. Alfred looked at him with a disturbed look on his face.

"I really don't think that's wise sir. He's so young, it seems like he couldn't handle them at all."

"Nonsense. He's one of the strongest boys I've seen... Look at him. He's alone, and he isn't even crying at his own parent's funeral! He's in shock, so much like I was... I want to help him the way you helped me..."

Bruce looked at Alfred with sad eyes, eyes that seemed to be asking permission from someone they didn't need to. Alfred looked back at Dick, standing there alone. He had no reason not to cry, yet there he was staying strong for nobody.

"He is strong... But what lives in that manor... They could scare the poor boy to death."

"I've lived there my whole life. As long as he follows the same rules we have, he should be fine."

"You had the opportunity to understand them from a very young age. He may be too old now." Alfred was scraping the bottom of the bucket with his excuses, knowing Bruce was deadset on asking Dick to stay with him.

"Well we will just have to wait and see... If he accepts my offer that is."

Both men looked over at the orphaned acrobat, and waited for him to finish his mourning of the day for hours before approaching him. Dick agreed to allow Bruce to adopt him, but it was done with a heavy heart, and a desperate need for a turn of good luck.

Dick was awestruck by the manor as they approached it. It was bigger than any building he had ever been in, as he so enthusiastically repeated to Alfred. Alfred agreed that the house was "quite large," but other than that, he hardly spoke.

Dick was out of the car before it had even stopped conpletely. Alfred wanted this to be a happy day, a wonderful occasion; a new member of the family, his very first grandson's homecoming. He wanted to be jumping for joy with the kid, but he just couldn't, knowing what he was in for.

Dick rushed up the steps two at a time, making Alfred's heart skip a beat. He watched the boy as he stood there, waiting for Alfred's permission to open the door. When he stepped through the barrier between the outside world and the manor, he would be cursed. He would be cursed as everyone else had been.

He stood there momentarily shellshocked by the thought, but shook it away in favour of opening the trunk of the car in order to retrieve Dick's few bags. He picked up two at a time and placed them on the ground, sparing a glance up at the highest floor of the manor where he knew he saw sudden movement.

Alfred wiped his brow and called out to Dick. "Master Grayson, could you please come and retrieve some of these bags. I'm afraid an old man can only carry so much at one time."

"Sure thing Mr Pennyworth" Came the youthful reply. Alfred could have handled all of the baggage and more. It was all he could do to prolong the inevitable. Maybe there was still time to change Bruce's mind...

Dick jumped down the stairs and back to the car next to Alfred, who was again looking at the topmost floor of the manor. Dick followed his gaze but saw nothing.

"Mr Pennyworth, are you alright?" asked Dick, genuinely worried that he was about to have a heart attack or something.

"Yes Master Grayson... Could you help me find my wallet in the car please?"

Dick recoiled slightly at the odd request. "yeah, of course. Sure."

They sat in the front of the car, looking underneath the seats. Dick searched hard, and almost hit his head when Alfred began talking again.

"Dick, there is something of the utmost importance you must know about this house."

The rushed tone made Dick's heart beat faster.

"Things... Happen in this house, and the second you step through that door, there are rules that must be abided by. First of all, you must not talk about this meeting, got it?" Dick nodded his head frantically.

"Second of all, strange things will happen, things you cannot explain. You must not talk about these things either, ever!" Dick nodded his head again, obviously confused by this old man's babblings.

"Third of all, and most importantly, do not let them know that you see them. Pretend you don't, and if you scream or something, pretend theres a spider, or pretend you THOUGHT you saw something, but again, do not let them know that you see them."

Dick's eyes went wide and he began shaking. Bruce couldn't be that bad, could he? Alfred reached behind him and from his back pocket he pulled his wallet before he got out of the car. He thanked Dick and gave him some of his own luggage. He walked up the stairs with the young boy behind him, took as long as he could opening the door, and stepped inside.

The moment Dick crossed the threshold, a shiver ran down his spine.

"Dick, I'm so glad you came here!" exclaimed Bruce bringing the boy into a hug. "Come now, I'll show you to your new room!"

He lead the way through the house, showing Dick the different rooms, allowing him to drop his belongings in his own bedroom.

Bruce spent hours showing him both of their bedrooms, his study, his bathroom, the clubroom, the spare rooms, and everywhere Dick would go eventually. Finally, bruce showed Dick his own bathroom, stocked with a rich man's shampoo, conditioner, lotions, razors (for when he would need to shave in around 5 years,) and the scented soaps Bruce enjoyed indulging himself in often.

Dick smile throughout the introduction, wondering the whole time what Mr Pennyworth had been talking about in the car. Nothing strange had happened so far...

"Oh! I haven't shown you the gym yet!" cried Bruce, leaving the room suddenly. Dick took one more look around, focusing on himself in the mirror for a few seconds longer. His hair was already getting long... He would have to get someone to cut it soon.

He shifted his eyes up for a moment, though he wasn't too sure why, and was startled to see a girl there. She was pale, had shoulder length brown hair, and had so many shadows covering her face that it looked like she had no eyes. Dick let out a cry before turning around to apologise to the girl, even though she was the one who startled him, but he was surprised to find nobody else there.

Bruce reentered the room, a fearful look in his eye. He took one look at Dick and noted his position before taking a sheet from the toilet roll and squishing it against the wall where Dick was looking. "It was just a spider Dick. No need to scream." the look on his face had become threatening, to say 'don't let it happen again.'

"yeah" said Dick, his heart racing and his body shivering, "Just a spider."


	2. Chapter 2

Dick Grayson lay in his new bed on his back with his eyes shut tightly, too afraid to open them even a little bit. Not exactly how he had intended to spend his first night in the manor.

He had seen the girl in the mirror, and Mr Wayne knew he had seen her. He sent Dick straight to bed after the whole ordeal even though it was only 9 oclock. Being a circus performer, Dick was usually still somersaulting through the air, so the sudden stillness so early made him a little jittery.

Bruce let Dick eat dinner in his room under the circumstances he ate it quickly and didn't leave the room, but it was only for that night. He hadn't touched any of the food but instead crawled into his new bed. He found it impossible to get comfortable or warm, but he didn't dare toss or turn.

The boy began to nod off hours later, having forced himself into a comfortable position. He moved his leg down, brought his other one up, shifted his hip oh so slightly, tried desperately not to make the springs creak. He believed he had done it, which is when he began to nod off, when the air in the room became noticeably thinner.

Dick tried to control his breathing; in, out, slowly, steadily, carefully. A sound could be heard in the room, a sound like a bird's sharp beak pecking at his window. Dick stiffened up in his bed focusing on not reacting noticeably to whatever it was. It could be a bird, but it could be something else.

A second bird joined in on the tapping, but Dick refused to react, although he was terrified. Eventually, a third bird joined in, each hitting the glass one right after the other in a 'ta- ta- tap' sequence.

Finally, a fourth tapping source could be heard, and Dick finally recognised it not to be a bird, but a hand, someones fingers tapping on the glass as one would in a display of boredom. The sound was stiff, not echoing inside the room as it would have done if it were coming from outside.

The sound continued for some time before it moved around the room slowly. It went from the window along the wall, along the second wall opposite from Dick's bed, and to the wall the door was on. There was tapping on the heavy wood, but Dick still refused to look at it, or let it know he heard it.

There was a sudden deafening silence, a pause where Dick considered opening his eyes. A minute passed by with nothing happening, then two minutes. Then three, and ten, and twenty. Dick started thinking it was safe for him to open his eyes, almost did it, until the door creaked open wide, and slammed shut.

Dick spasmed and hoped whatever had come in his room hadn't seen the movement. He could hear his heart beat, could hear and feel the pulsing in his skull. There was a rush of adrenaline, wasted on staying still.

He let himself relax more, could feel the tension beginning to leave his muscles, tried not to react when he heard heavy breathing from at least three sources around his bed. Whatever was in his room, however many there were, they were all positioned around him, staring at him while he tried to sleep.

Dick refused to open his eyes, even when the sun was shining through his window. His heart hadn't stopped beating hard throughout the night, leaving him with a pain in his chest. The cold had persisted on Dick, even though the heating was on all night and there was no reason at all to be cold.

Alfred knocked on Dick's door and entered the room making the boy jump suddenly, but he still didn't open his eyes or sit up.

"Master Dick? It's me."

Dick still didn't move from where he was. Alfred Could see that Dick was drenched in sweat, and he could smell urine. He touched Dick's shoulder and the boy flinched.

"Come now Richard." said Alfred touching the younger's face tenderly. "They can't touch you if you haven't seen them."

"How do I know they don't think I saw them and are pretending to be you?" blurted out Dick before he could stop himself.

"Because I haven't thrown you out the window or even possessed you. Now get out of what you're wearing so I can change these sheets" demanded Alfred as he ripped the sheets off Dick's cold body.

Dick brought his legs up and curled into a ball. He was shivering, but Alfred didn't have time for that at the moment. For the time being, there were more important matters to attend to.

The butler took some slacks, a shirt, and a sweater vest to Dick's bathroom and placed a large fluffy towel next to the pile.

"Please have a shower soon Richard, we have lots to do today" said Alfred poking his head around Dick's door.

Dick finally sat up. He needed a shower. He needed a shower in the creepy bathroom where he saw that girl.

Dick went light headed for a moment, the absense of sleep contributing to it, before he finally remembered where he was, and what had happened. He suddenly went cold again. He got up from the bed and put his back against the wall so he could see every inch of his room.

He studied his surroundings, looking for any hint that they had been there, that he wasn't crazy. He left the window until last.

Dick saw, even from a distance, fingerprints in the centre of the window. A set of four that created a trail. Where the window meets the wall and all along the wall were nail marks where fingernails had dug into it, creating a trail all the way to the door. Dick had missed them on his first scan of the room, not really knowing what he was looking for then.

Dick shifted along the wall, exiting through the door quickly. He walked down the hall filled with tension, afraid that anything could jump out at him at any moment.

He stood outside the bathroom door, stalling himself from going into the first place he had been 'haunted'.

He didn't know how long he stood there accumulating all of his courage before he finally opened the door wide, an eerie squeak from the hinges.

From his place at the door, he could see the side of the cabinet, the side of what had let him see his first ghost. He stared at it for some time, before removing his sweat drenched shirt and throwing it over the mirror. He didn't want to see it again.

The water was blissful on Dick's skin, giving him the warmth he so desperately needed. Now he kept his eyes opened at every moment, even when some soap went in them, so that he could be prepared to run if anything happened.

Dick was used to short showers, so he was out after a mere 5 minutes. He wrapped the towel around his bare waist before stepping onto the bath mat. He stood there for a moment completely aware of all the space between himself and the wall behind him, then jumped suddenly at a sound above him; a thump as if something heavy had been dropped.

As far as Dick was aware, he was on the top floor, so whatever had made that sound must have been in the attic, but Mr Pennyworth and Mr Wayne didn't have any business up there... Did they?

The sound happened again, making a shiver run down the boy's spine. He moved faster to get his clothes on and ran out the door and down the stairs, finding Alfred and Bruce sharing a silent breakfast at the dining table.

"There's something in the attic" exclaimed Dick with a shaking voice.

"It's probably just a bat." murmered Bruce, glaring at Dick from his place.

"It was too loud! It sounded like something being dropped-"

"It was nothing Dick" yelled Bruce, standing up and towering over the child. Dick jumped at the sudden aggression, not too sure where it was coming from.

There was a pause, where Dick seemed like he was about to cry, or faint, or do something, but was too shellshocked to do it. He had never been yelled at like that...

Bruce grunted and stood from his place. "Your sweater's backwards" said Bruce before he left the room. Dick watched him go and averted his eyes from the place Bruce had been, to his feet. There was a moment when Dick just stood there unsure of what do do with himself, but soon enough he took off his sweater and turned it to put it on the right way. He didn't look at Alfred, but the older man never took his eyes off Dick.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Two long weeks passed before Dick attended school for the first time. Within those two weeks, odd events occured every night and the boy did his best to not let them know he was aware of their presence, though it was difficult.

Dick learnt their routines quickly, doing his best to work around them as he hated them and what they did; forcing him into confrontation with the unknown with no possiblity of escape. He discovered that they became most active after 9 o'clock at night, appearing in hallways and rooms before Dick entered them, but that didn't stop them from being active in the day too.

In the day, they preferred the topmost part of the house, since it was often dark and perfect for outsides weather. Considering this, they were still very unpredictable, and that was what Dick hated the most.

He would never forget walking out of his bathroom on his second night in the manor right on nine o'clock to be startled by a woman, completely white with black rims around her sockets containing no eyes. Her hair was long and black, and would have gone down to the back of her knees if she was standing up. But she wasn't standing up at all. Instead, she was on her knees, her arms supporting some of her weight. She leant slightly to the left, and her head twisted so her ear was on her shoulder. Her mouth was wide open in what could have been a scream. Her skin appeared to be flaking off, but it looked wet at the same time. She made a sound someone would make if they were choking, often with sharp intakes of breaths, but those breaths sounded wet; like she was drowing.

In that moment, Dick froze. His eyes went wide and his mouth opened in a silent scream. He felt the blood rush from his head, suddenly couldn't breath.

The woman began crawling towards Dick with grappling reaches of her arms. Every time her arms moved, a cracking could be heard. The boy's mouth didn't close. A high pitched sound came out of his throat and his eyes began to water just before he fainted. Before he fell backwards unconscious, the woman began speeding towards him, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He woke up to Alfred and Bruce standing over him. Bruce was rubbing Dick's cheek with a thumb, a content look on his face. Dick felt numb in his head, making him open his eyes painfully slowly. He could see a third person looking down on him whenever Bruce or Alfred shifted enough; the girl from the mirror. Alfred told everybody in the room that Dick passed out from the emotional upset he still had from his parent's death, trusting the girl with greenish white skin and brown hair to pass it on to anyone else in the manor.

The other nights in the manor had been similar, though less severe. Dick had totaled 7 ghosts he was aware of, though ghosts didn't seem like the right word for them. Creeps was better.

Of these creeps were 2 women, 1 man, and four unknowns. The girl in the mirror and the creep down the hall were the women, and the four unknowns had visited Dick on his first night and had visited often since. The man was the creepiest creep of them all.

The creepiest creep liked to watch Dick in his most intimate moments. He first discovered this creep as a silhouette behind the shower curtain when he was showering on his fifth day in the manor. He disappeared when Dick pulled the shower curtain open to retrieve a bar of soap, but promptly reappeared when he closed it again straight after, however he was much closer on this second appearence.

Another time this creep stood in the corner of Dick's room while he got changed from one set of clothes to another. Dick pretended not to notice him as he was instructed, but he could always feel the eyes stabbing into him from that corner, or hear disgusting slicking sounds from where the creep was.

Dick had seen the mans face; he was old, looked like he had been in a war. His grey eyes always looked angry, and his mouth mimicked Gotham's batman fellow in how thin and mad it always seemed to be under any circumstance. Dick also knew this man's eyes trailed down his body at every opportunity.

The four unknowns were robed figures with yellow lights for eyes and long, curving claws which they intwined together while they stood. This meant they were closer than Dick thought as they tapped...

These ones only appeared after 9 o'clock, disappearing around 5:30 in the morning. They appeared every night in the same room, always crowding Dick's bed.

On the night the twisted creep made Dick faint, Alfred led Dick to his room and turned on the light. This was the first time Dick saw them standing there. He stopped where he stood and tried to act casual in where he looked. Alfred made it possible to get Dick to bed. Under his guise, Dick managed to not make them realise that he had seen them, that he had always seen them.

Dick set his alarm for 7 o'clock the night before his first day at school. When he woke up, he dressed quickly while the old man watched from in front of his window. He walked down the hallway, ignoring the wet choking sound coming from behind one of the doors. He ate fast and was in the car before Bruce was ready to drive him.

This would be the first time Dick was allowed to leave the property since his arrival, and boy was he ecstatic about it. He was jumping up and down in his seat, a dumb grin on his face.

"Bit excited are you?" asked Bruce as he got into the drivers seat of the car.

"So excited! Can't wait! Can finally get away from-"

Bruce slammed a hand over Dick's mouth, effectively stopping the rest of his sentence.

"Getting away from the cold house does sound very wonderful." Finished Bruce sparing a glance at the rear view mirror. "Dick, can you please check out the back window for any obstructions I could have missed?"

Dick had already learnt to do as Bruce asked with no questions, so he turned his body over the back of his seat, and found the twisted creep. Dick didn't react, but he felt himself go cold. "no. No there's nothing there Bruce."

Dick looked forward for the entire trip and didn't turn his head even a little bit. There was silence for most of the trip, the only sound inside the car a majority of those times being horrible attempts at breathing. Dick was out of the car before Bruce had come to a full stop in front of the school. He didn't say goodbye, or thankyou, but instead ran into the building as fast as he could.

The last class of the day was art. Dick had never been deeply invested in the subject, but the teacher was one he came to like over any other. Dick had entered the class in the middle of a project, so his would be smaller but just as meaningful as any other student's.

All they had to do was create a painting of their family in the way they, themself, saw them. Looking at other students work gave Dick a good insight into the people he had only just met. A girl painted a picture of herself and who must have been her grandma next to three graves; both of her parents and a smaller one with a boy's name.

A boy painted a picture of who must have been his mother and father looking afraid on the left half of the canvas, and himself and his older brother on the other half. The brother had his arms around the smaller figure , and Dick couldn't help but notice the position of one of his hands being right over his classmate's crotch region. Dick knew exactly what it meant. His parents had warned him against the things people could have done to him on their travels, especially in Gotham.

There were plenty of happy families amongst his classmates too, and after seeing everybody else's work he was ready to start on his own. Dick painted his mother and father with yellow halos around their heads. He painted Bruce and Alfred too with himself between his first family and his new one, all of them holding hands and smiling. It was a rushed piece, but up to standards with a majority of his 10 and 11 year old classmates. At the end of the class everyone's work was put on display, and the teacher went around asking everyone who they painted, and why they depicted them the way they did.

The students watched her go around to each piece of art, anticipating the moment she would approach them. Half way through her round she went over to Dick. He watched her as she looked at it, but became puzzled by the look of confusion on her face.

"Who are these people Richard?" she asked.

"It's Mum, Dad, Mr wayne, and his butler-friend, Alfred. And that's me in the middle."

"Yes that's all fine, but I was talking about this lot over here next to, Alfred did you say?"

Dick finally looked at what he had painted, but recoiled when he saw a green girl with brown hair, an apparently naked man, four oval figures with yellow eyes, and a white person with a mass of long black hair. More than this though, there was a person wearing only a skirt hanging from what must have been a rope from the top of the border, a dog lying on its back, and a grey mass of scribbles which took up as much space as the other creeps depctions combined.

"...I don't see what you mean." said Dick before ripping his canvas from where it was and destroying it before throwing it away. He took his bag, swung it over his shoulder, and left the room before anyone else could say anything.

Dick opened his locker to find the twisted creep curled up and staring at him through empty eye sockets. He took the book he needed from under her and closed the locker, muffling the gurgling she made. He walked through the hall, not looking into the full classrooms where the twisted creep peered at him through the small window.

Dick sat on the school's bottom step waiting for Bruce to pick him up. Students from his class watched him as they passed by, wanting to say something, but at the same time not wanting to, too curious by his sudden outburst. Dick didn't look at any of them as they went by. He just couldn't.

Bruce arrived an hour after the final bell had rung, and when he pulled up Dick hesitantly got into the car. There was silence for the duration of the trip, save for the choked breathing coming from the back seat.


End file.
